3Y8M 1Y10M 別れは悲しい Feel sad to leave nice people

慌しくも出国の日が23日と決まり、会社に辞表も出した。

アラタカラのナーサリーも先週で終わり。アラタの担当保母さんのザビダは目に涙を浮かべてアラタを抱き締めて声をかけてくれた。私としても、こんなに親身になってくれる保母さんと別れるのは悲しくて、彼女にはお礼の手紙を添えたカードを渡した。

今日は久しぶりにアディバに会い、夕子さんも加わって、BigAppleで子供達を遊ばせながらおしゃべり。タカラが昼寝中だったため、母に任せて置いて行ったのがよかった。ほとんど子供には邪魔されずに3時間以上もしゃべり続けた。気の合う友達と別れるのも寂しい。

We've booked a flight out on 23rd September. I've handed in a notice to work. On Friday, it was Aratakara's last day at nursery. Arata's main carer, Zabida, gave Arata a hug with tear in her eyes. I was almost going to cry as well. I really like her way of approach to shy Arata and I felt so sad to take him out from her care. I gave her a long letter of thank you together with a card and a box of chocolate.

We went to Big Apple with Adiba and Yuko this afternoon. I left Takara with my mum as he was asleep and it worked well because all 3 year old boys didn't disturb us at all. We kept chatting over 3 hours! It's also sad to leave such good friends.....

3Y7M 1Y10M どうやら It's going to be...

8月初めからマレーシアに行っているJason、どうやら環境も仕事も気に入ったようで、家族全員で引っ越す事になった。

カナダから現在の仕事が決まって渡英したのは1996年だから、もう12年。今までは自分で好きな所へ好きな時に行ったけど、家族ができるとそうはいかないってことを、初めて実感している。

5月にフルタイムに戻ったばかりで仕事は充実、公私のバランスが取れて、気持ちが前向きになっていたところ。始めたばかりの仕事を身につけるにも最低一年は必要と考えていたから、途中でやめることになる。そして、あんなに嫌がっていたナーサリーだが、アラタは最近「ナーサリー好き」と言う。私だったら、絶対に今は動かない。

そして、今、私は悲しい。私はヨーロッパに住むのが好きだけど、Jasonも私も家族がここにいないから、一度離れたら、もう英国に戻ってくる理由はないもの。数年後にまた英国にいい仕事のオファーがあるかもしれない、まだ英国に縁があるかもしれないと思いながら去る事にしよう。そうでもしないと、悲しすぎる。

Jason has 100% sure now to move to Malaysia and we've made up our mind to follow him. He's been there since the beginning of August. He seems to like life there and his new job. So I need to give a notice to work tomorrow.

I came here from Canada in 1996. It's been 12 years. I've always made my decisions by myself but not this time. It's the reality of having family....

I changed back to nearly full time in May. Since then, I've felt much positive towards life and I've been feeling better in both work and private life. I've given myself a year to learn SAP and leaving work now means ditching SAP for good. Arata has started to say he likes nursery. So if I could do my way, I wouldn't chose to make any move now.

To be honest, I feel very sad at the moment. I like living in Europe. But once we get out of here, we will have no reasons to come back here. Neither of us are from here and we have no families in this country.... Hopefully, Jason or I will have a good job offer in England in 2 or 3 years time and we will all come back. Well, this is the only way to make me feel better now. I hope my fate is like this.

3Y7M 1Y10M シェルブール Cherbourg

ポーツマスに前後泊して日帰りでフランスのシェルブールへ行った。Jasonは不在だが、アラタカラのはとこ、ベンとダニエルの祖父母がニュージーランドから来ているから便乗した。アラタは1才年上のダニエルととても仲良しだし、もしJasonの仕事がマレーシアに本決まりになったら、アラタカラもブリストルに住むはとこになかなか会えなくなってしまう。

3日間天気は最悪で、2時間45分のフェリーの中は船酔い客だらけ。アラタカラも次々に何度も嘔吐して泣き叫び、最後は私まで吐きました・・・。着替えもなくシェルブールの街をうろうろしたものの、天気が悪くてやる気なし。せっかくのフランスなのにおいしいクレープもコーヒーも堪能せず。Jasonがいないのも厳しかった。

We went to Cherbourg, France, form Portsmouth. It was just a day trip and we stayed in Portsmouth the day before and after. Grandparents of Aratakara's distant cousins, Ben and Daniel, are here from New Zealand and we joined their trip to France. Arata gets on very well with Daniel, who is only a year older than him, and if Jason's job in Malaysia becomes permanent, we won't be able to see them, who live in near Bristol, so often. So I wanted to make an effort to go to see them.

Unfortunately, weather was terrible for entire 3 days. The sea was so rough and lot of people got sea sickness. Of course, both Aratakara got sick one after another, again and again. I as well got sick in the end.... We had no clothes to change and we wandered around Cherbourg in smelly clothes. We were too tired and anyway weather was bad. So we didn't even enjoy nice coffee nor tasty French sweets! I needed Jason!

3Y7M 1Y10M トーマス Thomas the tank engine

Watercress Line　の、機関車トーマスイベントに

、アラタカラのはとこ、ベンとダニエル家族と行った。アラタカラにとっては二回目で、今回はタカラも楽しめるかなあと思ったが、ほとんど昼寝していました。トップハムハット卿にも会ったし、デイジー、ヘンリー、トーマス、トッド、ディーゼルに乗った。私だけ、タカラを昼寝させるため、一台遅らせてスペンサーに乗ったのだが、アラタは「どうしてママだけスペンサーに乗ったの？アラタも乗りたい」と帰ってきてからもしつこい。（写真のタカラの口の周りは夢中になって食べている間にどんどんくっついてしまった綿菓子。そしてそれに困惑して固まってしまったタカラ。）

We went to

Day out with Thomas event at Watercress line

with Arata's distant cousins, Ben and Danniel. It was the 2nd time for Aratakara and I thought Takara can enjoy it this time but he was asleep most of the time. We met the Fat Controller and we were on Daisy, Henry, Thomas, Todd, Diesel. Takara and I had an extra ride on Spencer because I had to miss one train while Takara was trying to sleep. Arata was so unhappy about it. He's kept asking why mummy got on Spencer but not him.... even today.　(Takara is wearing some candyfloss around his mouth!)

3Y7M 1Y10M アワ！ Awa!

タカラは、私達を1人ずつ指さして、「ダディ、ママ、アラタ」と言った後、自分を指さすという遊びが好き。最近までは、自分の名前は言えないから、最後は無言で自分の鼻を人差し指で押さえていた。

一ヶ月ほど前から、自分のことを「アワ」と呼ぶようになり、なんでアワなんだろうね～と笑っていたら、ある時それが「アバ」になり、ああ、「オリバー」って言おうとしているんだと気付いた。最近は「オリ」と言えるようになった。

いろいろな音の発音ができるようになってきたからか、言葉もどんどん出てくるようになった。「あとーた（＝ありがとう）、ばーちゃん」や「おかえりー、ママ」みたいに、相手の名前をつけることも忘れない所に英国（外国）仕込みが漂う。（私は教えていないが、ナーサリーが教えてくれる。）

昨日はロイヤルアルバートホールで、アラタカラ、空いた場所をみつけると、壁側に寄せてあった椅子を並べて座って遊んでいた。タカラは、通りかかった男性に向かって、「じーちゃん、ここ！」と椅子に座れと指さして、カモン！の手招き。ああ、彼は禿げているけどおじいちゃんではないのに・・・日本語通じなくてよかったと思ったが、タカラの手招きは、手のひらを上に向けてグーパーを繰り返すような外人風。

ところで、タカラは髪を洗った後、背泳ぎのように浮かんですすぐのも、1歳過ぎた頃から少しも嫌がらずにさせてくれた。（アラタは3才になるまで泣いていたかなあ・・・。）最近は平泳ぎ浮かびが好き。プールに連れて行ってあげなきゃ。

Takara likes to point to us one by one saying our names, then pushes his index finger against his nose silently. It's because he can't say his own name, well, he couldn't.

He started to call himself "Awa" about a month ago. We were wondering why it was "Awa" for a while. One day he said "Ava" and we knew at that moment that he was trying to say "Oliver".
>/P

Since around the same time, he's started to say more and more words. "Atoota (Arigato = Thank you), Baachan (Obachan = grandma)!" or "Okaerii (Welcome home), Mama!" He always adds our names in his sentence like this. It's not Japanese way. He is surely a British boy!

Yesterday at the Royal Albert Hall, Aratakara were playing in a small space putting chairs in a line. They then sat side by side. When Takara saw a man walking around, he shouted, "Jicchan, koko! (Granddad, here)" pointing at the empty chair next to him. Well, he was bald but still a young man... I was so relieved that he didn't understand Japanese! Anyway, when Takara was saying that, he was doing with a 'come on" gesture, putting his palm upwards keeping it open and close. It's again non-Japanese way. When we do the same gesture, we put our hand downwards.

By the way, Takara has never cried when we put him on his back in the bath to rinse his hair after shampoo, since around the time he turned one. (Arata hated it till recently...) Now Takara likes floating on his tummy like this. We have to take him to a swimming pool!

3Y7M 1Y10 母を連れて観光 Taking mum out

母はアラタが生まれてから数回渡英しているが、それ以前は1996年に私がロンドンで働き始めて以来8年もの間、（父も含めて、）一度も来なかった。特に英国に興味はないし、日本での趣味や仕事が忙しすぎるということが理由だが、友達の親に比べると個人主義でドライな私の家族。

ここ4年弱の間は、アラタカラの出産の手伝いなどで総滞在日数も長いのだが、子供が小さかった事もありし、観光にはほとんど行っていない。今日は天気もよかったのでロンドンへ行った。

ウォータールーから私の勤務地近辺のテートモダン辺りまで歩いた。途中OXOタワーの近くでテムズ川を見ながらサンドイッチで昼食。引き潮だったのでBanksideではアラタと川岸に下りて少し歩いた後、テムズクリッパーでグリニッジへ。天文台の丘からの眺めはいつ行っても好き。

My mum has come to England for a couple of times since Arata was born. But she, and my dad, hadn't visited me at all in the previous 8 years after I started to work here in 1996. To start with, they don't have much interest in the U.K. On top of that, they are usually too busy with their hobbies, and works, before they retired completely 2 years ago. I can understand their reasons but compared to the parents of my friends, my family are different!

Although the total number of the days mum has spent in the U.K. since Arata was born is quite big, she hasn't gone around to see England much. I decided to take her to London.

We arrived at Waterloo and walked alongside river Thames. After having sandwiches by the river, we headed for Bankside, opposite to my work and in front of Tate modern. Arata and I got down to the river bank to walk a bit, then got on Thames Clipper to Greenwich. The view from the Observatory hill is spectacular and I always love it.

3Y7M 1Y10M ダディなし Without Daddy

Jasonがマレーシアにしばらく出張のため、母が来ている。Jasonの見送りに空港まで行ったから、タカラは空を飛んでいる飛行機を見るたびに「ダディ　ひこうき　行っちゃった」と言っている。不思議とJasonがいないと夜はさっさと寝てくれるし、お風呂は二人で楽しそう。

To help me out while Jason is in Malaysia on business, my mum has come to England. We went to see Jason off at Heathrow. Since then, whenever Takara sees an airplane, he says, "Daddy hikooki (airplane) icchatta (gone)." When Jason is not around, certain things are easier for me. They go to bed earlier and they have a bath together happily.